Author: mccormicky

More product images per product for Zen Cart

It took me a while but I figured out zen cart’s way of dealing with product images. It’s all about how you name the first product image you upload.

Add your product and make all the necessary adjustments to the product features.Then when it comes to uploading the initial image name it like this:

product.jpg. Then with filezilla or whatever ftp you use load up your additional images:

product1.jpg

product2.jpg

product3.jpg

Simple,right?

Except when I went to the help pages on the zen cart website no one explained it like that!

I was adding images by ftp not knowing why they wouldn’t show up on the product page and then trying out all different combos of names or directories. Nothing helped. Until I loaded a new product and accidentally did it right. Because if you upload product1.jpg as your first product image- loading product2.jpg, product.jpg and product3.jpg will result in no extra images showing up.

Some of the zen cart help articles tell you that zen cart will display on the product page any image that has a similar name as the first image you uploaded in the actual description of the product. I didn’t find this to be true. I also didn’t find the use of the extension_LRG or _MD to do anything either. It also didn’t seem to matter to what directory I uploaded the product images. If the product images weren’t uploaded in the right sequence with the right name-the extra images wouldn’t be displayed.

Hope this helps someone else.

How do you get paid?

I have difficulty pricing my work. If you have worked out a price for what you charge and for what kind of web design work-I’d love to hear it.

I really love this work and I would and have done it for free. But money coming in is a good thing and keeps my cell phone on so I actually have to charge.

I kind of freeze up when people ask me what my rates are. I don’t want to say a price that might be too high but I don’t want to quote too low and end up doing a ton of work for free because I said it would be that much and I have to stick with that price.

I work around it by asking what they were thinking of spending. This is not a good method but I am not established enoguh to say thiat is my price take it or leave it.Which is what the more hardcore web designers seem to say over and over.They have other customers lined up around the block and can afford to turn people away. Or they just enjoy being arrogant. I do not.

Design vs Technique

I’m kind of stuck with this new design for a site that I’ve been avoiding working on because I am stuck. But I really have to move forward with the project so first I must get over myself.
I want to give the site a fresh modern look yet I want it to be readable and most importantly:understandable. I also don’t want to shock anyone who was used to the old site’s layout, mainly the owner of the site.

So I went in search of inspiration and found this article

Something’s Missing in Webdesign

by Khoi Vinh.
I didn’t know it but Vinh is the design director of NYtimes.com(whoa).
I was more inspired by a comment left by Jeff Croft who talked about being annoyed by CSS “gurus” who wiffle endlessly Continue reading Design vs Technique

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Ahhh, back to mediocrity! Though mediocrity would be a step up from where the old blog lies. I saw my little PR icon had gone from 5 to 0 so I checked it out and I am indeed a zero in Google’s eyes. Back to normal!